This paper employs static atomistic simulations to investigate the effect of a void on the
nanoindentation of Cu(111). The simulations minimize the potential energy of the complete system
via finite element formulation to identify the equilibrium configuration of any deformed state. The
size and depth of the void are treated as two variable parameters. The numerical results reveal that
the void disappears when the indentation depth is sufficiently large. A stress concentration is
observed at the internal surface of the void in all simulations cases. The results indicate that the
presence of a void has a significant influence on the nanohardness extracted from the
nanoindentation tests.